December 2019 Issue: The Voice

Struggles of Women in the Face of Enforced Disappearance

AFAD Celebrates the 2020 International Women’s Day

Manila: It can be argued that enforced disappearance (ED) might very well take on a woman’s face. This year the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) celebrates the International Women’s Day by remembering the collective and individual struggles of women family members of ED victims. These women who bear the burden of having a loved one disappeared are the icons of brave resistance and struggle for survival in the face of overwhelming psychological, social, cultural, and economic challenges.

AFAD Condemns Indian Government Inaction in the Face of Anti-Muslim Violence

MANILA, Philippines – The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) strongly condemns the Indian government’s ineffective handling of and (lack of) response to anti-Muslim violence in the wake of the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

The situation was made worse by Kapil Mishra’s, a leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), order to the police to clear the protest site ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit. A video released on Twitter showed this same official giving an ultimatum to the police. Soon after, CAA supporters, flanked by police officers, approached the protest site chanting “Jai Shree Ram!” (“Hail Lord Ram!”), a slogan associated with right-wing Hindus, followed by stones being thrown towards the protesters.

AFAD STATEMENT on Sombath Somphone’s 7th Year of Disappearance

FOR SEVEN YEARS, the fate and whereabouts of Sombath Somphone, a prominent civil society leader, a community development worker, and a human rights defender, remain undisclosed by the Lao government. Sombath was forcibly disappeared in Vientiane on 15 December 2012. His disappearance was recorded in a police surveillance video, when police stopped him in his vehicle at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Vientiane.